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10/13/11

Ride Home 10/13

Made it before the rain and well before the terrible rain, though getting home was complicated by my locking myself out. So, there was that. Not a big deal. Thanks, Official Wife!
It's the same old song for the first part of the ride. Nothing especially noteworthy, except for maybe a gathering of secret service outside the Observatory entrance. 'Uncle' Joe on the move.
I really wish I could ride faster from the bottom of the hill to where I turn at Q. It always feels like it takes longer than it should, but it might just be because it's longer than I think it is or maybe because it is that I'm actually quite slow. But not as slow as the CaBi guy who shoaled me. Am I doing something wrong? Really, I'm getting tired of complaining about this.D2 bus loads in the bike lane at Q and Connecticut. That's not cool. That means, for all practical purposes, when you get stuck at the light, just ride in front of the first stopped car rather than staying in the bike lane.
Q was bikeless, except for me. Some drivers were having issues on account of other drivers stopping in order to parallel park. To my mind, this isn't really a rightful grievance. If you're going to have street parking, some people are going to stop and park in it. A car is a machine with four wheels, an internal combustion engine, and the ability to drain every bit of patience and empathy from the core of your being.
I remained on Q to First, NW, which was a new route for me and took that to M. It's labeled a bike route, but I didn't find it excessively comfortable, especially after crossing New York Avenue and then waiting to turn left at M. I don't know what could be done to make it better, since it's fairly narrow and already has signals every block or so. M until North Capitol is crowded, but after (east of) it, it quiets down. I stopped at the Harris Teeter to buy cabbage and pop tarts.
I also bought a few other things and my bag was heavily laden, to the point that it was sort of difficult to balance. When the bike rocked a little, I really felt it. It amazes me that I can ride my bike every day and still be sort of terrible at handling it.
4th NE hasn't yet been restriped. Tru Orleans looks like it has good beignets, but that's just an assumption. The Giant that they're building at H and Third is really going to make a difference to that end of the strip. It will be vastly superior to the big hole that's there now. I turned through Stanton Park. There should be a bike lane on the south side of the park, since two travel lanes don't really make sense since Massachusetts only has one lane. At the stop light, a guy on a red single speed, wearing bike gloves, and who had a camera mount atop his helmet, rolled up next to me. Pop quiz: when rolling up to another bicyclist stopped at a red light, where should you halt your "roll up"?

a) in front of him
b) next to him
c) behind him
d) Wherever Wiz Khalifa says

If you answered b or c a or b, you're wrong. I hate to dwell (or do I?), but it really seems hostile and anti-social. Pass while moving! Also, no touching!
Some time during the day in our absence, Ellie the Poodle managed to get chain grease on her tail. We might need to take some steps to address this, since this is the second poodle/bike gunk incident this week.

3 comments:

Hate not. or something.I ride hard and shoot out off the line at the light like few riders I know. If I inch ahead of you while stopped instead of waiting for you to start to mount at green, no disrespect meant, bro. Ride and let ride.Pax.